Yes - Close to the Edge

This album was my first Yes album that I ever listened to. I must admit that in the beginning I did not really like it that much. especially because the first three minutes or so are quite aggresive riffs. Though after I told myself that I should give this album a real chance, I found myself falling in love with these three exquisite songs!

This album begins with its title track, a 17 minute long epic: Close to the Edge: The Solid Time of Change / Total Mass Retain / I Get Up. The intro is quite agressive, but after three minutes the main melody preludes the first verse and chorus. The mid-song break has a totally different feeling than the rest of the song: beautiful vocals and a church organ. After a few minutes the keyboard kicks in again and the instrumental solo’s start.

The next song And You and I: Cord of Life / Eclipse / The Preacher the Teacher / Apocalypse is a very slow track. This song has some very nice vocals and has a relax atmosphere. This song is very different from the other two songs on the album: it’s a lot slower and more about the lyrics.

Siberean Khatru almost always shows up in my “genius” - playlists. It seems to fit with nearly any track on my music library. The song is pretty complex but not nearly as complex as “close to the edge”. It features a great solo intermezzo.

This album got me into Yes, and I still enjoy every minute of this album. Even though it only has three songs, it still presents a myriad of different kinds of music.